Coffee Talk: Why Hate TNA?

Hey fans. Savior here with another edition of Coffee Talk. This time around, I'm making it simple and to the point. Why Hate TNA?

This is not a blog that is intended to bash fans who love WWE. Not at all. It is also not completely in defense of TNA or me trying to convince people that you should watch TNA. I'm approaching this topic from someone who grew up with wrestling. I'm in my mid-thirties, which means I grew up with WWF, NWA, AWA, and World Class Championship Wrestling. I saw the emergence of WCW and I was all in during the Monday Night Wars. Today, I still watch every week. I watch WWE many weeks, and I watch TNA every week. I only watch Raw for WWE. Smackdown has lost my interest two years ago, as many who read my blogs regularly already know. I could care less about Main Event, Superstars, NXT, Saturday Morning Slam, and Total Divas. I only have a limited time budget that I'll dedicate to wrestling and that budget includes Monday's when I remember, and Thursday's religiously. That is because I do prefer TNA over WWE. But again, this blog is strictly going to be from an outside perspective.

So as I ask in the intro here. Why Hate TNA? I get it that people enjoy WWE. Hell, they outgain their viewership over TNA 4-1. But what is it that you enjoy about WWE that you absolutely despise about TNA? I know there are fans like me who watch both. There are fans who like TNA more and those who like WWE more. I prefer TNA more but I'm not against watching WWE. But the extremists are out there. Those who love TNA and hate WWE, and even a little more extreme the other way around with those who love WWE and watch every minute of programming Vince McMahon puts out there, and just bash and hate on TNA. My question is why? Let's look at the pros and cons of TNA, shall we? We'll start with the cons.

TNA is run poorly

While this may be true, things can and always do change. Yes, Dixie Carter's daddy owns TNA so she's set for the life of Impact Wrestling. Until it dies, she'll be running it. But what if she doesn't want to anymore? There's no doubt in my mind that Dixie Carter is probably a great business manager. But where I think she lacks, and it's an important area with this or any other entertainment-based business, is marketing. I've blogged extensively about how TNA has marketable assets but they don't market them. Austin Aries and Bobby Roode are two prime examples. These two are popular in the IWC. They are both skilled in the ring. They both have a look about them that could and should be in front of cameras outside of the wrestling world and should be promoted as such. TNA should be promoting the hell out of this whole thing with Bobby Roode and Eric the Actor from the Howard Stern show. You can't buy better pub, than with a connection to Howard Stern. A good marketing person would have TNA doing a live show in NY, and have Howard Stern appear, even in a taped video segment, and advertise the hell out of it, so people will tune in. Okay, TNA is run poorly. We know. Let's move on.

The Hulk Hogan That Never Was

I did a blog about clean put overs and politicking in the wrestling world. The consensus being that no one was worse than Hulk Hogan. Well, that may be true, and who knows, it may still be true. But that's not the point. The Hulk Hogan that never was references the fact that TNA hired him a few years ago in an attempt to do legit battle with WWE. It obviously backfired, because the first thing they did on their Monday Night edition, was tease the NWO. I'm not sure how long it took for rating to drop back down to what they were, but I know I tuned in that day and the show was okay, but not special. And when I saw Hall, Nash, and Waltman in Mick Foley's office, with Foley laying on the floor, I thought to myself..."wow, can we move on already?". And this coming from someone who thinks the Monday Night Wars are what made wrestling. Flipping back and forth between two legit shows during commercials was the best part. What show would keep you more intrigued? But obviously, it's a new day in wrestling. The NWO won't work anymore. It was cool. It was a fad. And it had it's day much like parachute pants and girls with yellow shorts and bangs 10 ft in the air. Great things can be imitated, but not duplicated. This is why NWO didn't last in WWE. This is my opinion why Nexus didn't last. Since then, Hogan has thrown himself in the spotlight time and time again. His theme music is a cheap rendition of the NWO theme. It's almost sad. TNA thought Hogan would lead to bigger and better things, and he hasn't. Now his time has come. I fully believe that TNA has peaked....WITH HOGAN. I also feel they can grow...WITHOUT HOGAN.

There are other cons that I've already blogged about and won't rehash. Things like Spike TV, poor timing and lack of build up to certain things. There are other reasons that other people don't like such as Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz. By the way, if you're writing comments that say, "who's Tito Ortiz", you're lying and you know it.

All that aside, TNA has pros, and a lot of them. The most notable are the Knockouts wrestling, the quality of matches, the slowly improving X Division, and good storylines that are being built over the course of months. Some they're giving up on very quickly. Others they're dragging out maybe a little too long. Either way, TNA may not be a great company, but Impact is an entertaining wrestling show. Which now gets me to the beef of the matter.

Why Hate TNA?

If you ask yourself that, can you really answer that question logically? It's one thing to have preferences, but another to really HATE the only possible competition there is. Here's an example. How many WWE faithful...no, I won't call you fanboys or smarks...bashed RVD when he was X Division champ, but are all tingly now that he's back in WWE? Be honest. You know you're out there and you know you're reading this. The same people are also hating on the fact that Jeff Hardy is one of the top guys in the company, and you hate him and call him a druggie and a burn out and all that, but if his music hit and he came out on Raw, you'd nearly wet your pants. You know who you are. So the only question I have is, Why? Why hate TNA, just because it's not WWE?

I know a lot of people reading this probably weren't even around during the Monday Night Wars or were too young to truly be invested in it. But do you realize what successful TNA means? Here's a count down.

5. An alternative wrestling show when you're sick of seeing Christian vs Alberto Del Rio for the 5th time in 2 weeks.

4. A second option when you're sick of hearing Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler telling you to download the WWE App.

3. A reason to change channels because you're sick of seeing the recap of John Cena's promo to open the show for the 11th time in one Raw episode.

2. A quality wrestling match when Great Khali and Natalya are in a mixed tag vs Big E and AJ Lee

1. The Real Reason. The Most Important Reason. Competition makes everything better. WWE will try harder to put on better shows.

It's no secret. WWE has been in cruise control with their wrestling product. But if TNA became a threat. If they became real competition. Do you know what would happen? Your favorite WWE wrestlers will perform better and you'll get better quality wrestling matches on both shows. The timing of segments will be better constructed to keep you from flipping the station.

I know TNA isn't on Monday Nights. If they grew to be real competition, that Monday Night experiment could and would come back. Then we'd be in for a ride. If TNA did grow, wouldn't be on the back of Bully Ray. It wouldn't be on the back of Hulk Hogan. it would be on the back of Austin Aries, Bobby Roode, AJ Styles, Chris Sabin, etc. It would mean that they finally took their best assets, and made them stars. Some of the more popular WWE stars might not be so quick to renew their contracts because there's another option for them.

The possibilities are endless. Those who have grown up with the WWE we have today, don't understand what it's like to have two BIG TIME wrestling promotions. It's fun. It's exciting. It makes the wrestling industry better.

I don't know why the people who have this undeniable hate for TNA feel the way they feel. But if less people hate them and gave them an opportunity, who knows what could have been...or what could be.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Coffee Talk. Let me know what you think. And if you're one of the major TNA haters, let's hear why.

Comments

People have the power of choice & that's why some hate TNA while the love WWE! I watch both....why because I'm a wrestling fan! I don't get ROH but from the stuff I've seen I honestly believe I'd enjoy it more than either TNA or WWE. Believe it or not I still break out my old ECW, AWA & NWA tapes just so I can see good solid wrestling matches. It's always been sports entertainment but now its a little too Soap Opera like sometimes for my tastes.